Featured Presentation: Indian Railways – British History and Now by Dick Raub.
India is the second most populous country in the world. British presence dates to 1600, actual rule dates to 1847.
Because of the need to communicate between cities, the only realistic mode of travel was railway.
First commercial journey was 1853. Today there are 67,400 km of routes and 1.3 million people employed.
Much of the railway is electrified. The busiest commuter terminal in the world, CST (Mumbai), handles 7.0 million passengers a day.
The problem is outdated track and equipment. Estimated upgrading costs are approximately $140 billion.